]]>
]]>
Backseat Seat Belts: House Bill 219 requires all passengers in a vehicle (instead of just front seat passengers) to wear a seat belt. Backseat taxicab passengers are exempt.
Electronics Recycling: To help keep hazardous material out of landfills, Senate Bill 2106 requires many types of electronic equipment to be recycled including televisions, computers, and video game consoles. Illegally throwing these items away could result in a $25 fine. You can recycle your used electronic equipment at Recycle Tech Solutions (3639 North Broadway or 2000 West Division) or at the City of Chicago's Recycling Center (1150 North Branch). If you have trouble getting to these locations, please contact my office for assistance.
Lock Changes on Rental Units: House Bill 1233 requires Cook County landlords to change a unit's locks in between tenants.
Nursing Home Infection Control: I introduced House Bill 1096 to improve nursing home safety regulations by requiring each facility to develop policies to control the spread of infection and communicable diseases. Facilities must designate at least one staff member to be responsible for the implementation of these policies.
Insurance Recoupment: Currently, there is no time limit on insurance companies deciding that a patient was ineligible for the benefits for services provided and can recoup the payment at any time. This can often happen months or even years after the services were rendered leaving providers, doctors and patients with the cost years after the fact. House Bill 1193 prevents insurance companies from recouping more than 18 months after the original payment was made.
Financial Exploitation of the Elderly: House Bill 1689 stiffens penalties for financially exploiting a person over the age of 60. For example, under current law the exploitation of an individual over the age of 60 is a Class 1 felony (punishable by 4 to 15 years of jail time and up to a $25,000 fine) if the property is worth $100,000 or more. Under the new law, exploitation of a person over the age of 60 is a Class 1 felony if the property is worth $50,000 or more.
43rd Ward Remap
Public Hearing
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Cortelyou Commons*
DePaul University
2324 N. Fremont
*Parking: Sheffield Garage located at 2331 N. Sheffield (Dominick's garage)
You know your Ward best. You know what's best for your Ward.
The Chicago Transit Authority ("CTA") in conjunction with Jones Lang LaSalle is hosting an informational Retail Leasing Open House on:
Thursday, January 12, 2012 from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon.
The open house will be held at CTA Headquarters.
567 W. Lake Street, 2nd floor
Please stop in any time between 9:00 a.m. and 12 noon to discuss the leasing process, receive application information or ask general questions about retail opportunities with the CTA.
Please call 312-228-2212 to RSVP and visit www.ctarealestate.com for detailed property information and lease application instructions
Pre-tax transit benefits help save commuters hundreds each year in taxes. Just by deducting transit costs before taxes, not only can companies can provide this valuable addition to their benefits package, but earn incentives through the Transit Ridership Improvement Program.
To earn these referral fees, the employer must complete the TRIP program and enroll 5 or more employees into their benefits program. When an employer enrolls in TRIP, we will help guide them through the process of setting up a pre-tax transit benefits program, and note that your organization referred them to TRIP. Once the company has begun administering their pre-tax transit benefits program and submitted for TRIP’s incentives, your organization will have earned $100.
Please click here for more information.
]]>This is a reminder that the Cook County liquor tax will increase effective Jan. 2, 2012.
Cook County has provided a chart (attached) for retailers to compute the new rates. The City of Chicago does not provide a similar chart for the city’s liquor tax.
Also attached is a list of the Cook County Home Rule tax changes for 2012 – it includes the alcohol tax increase, the new tax on Other Tobacco Products and a reminder that the Retailer Occupation Tax (Sales Tax) will decrease to 1 percent in Cook County beginning on Jan. 1, 2012.
Note the different dates for each:
• The Sales Tax drops to 1 percent on Jan. 1.
• The liquor tax increase is effective Jan. 2.
• The new tax on Other Tobacco Products is effective March 1.
Lastly, we have attached a separate page showing the 2012 amended Home Rule Tax ordinances for Cook County.
More information is available at www.cookcountyil.gov/revenue.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel's 2012 Budget Address
Injecting Sustainability and Environmental Consciousness Throughout City Government
A core part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration is focused on elevating sustainability throughout Chicago's local government and making Chicago the most environmentally-friendly city in the world. Since taking office, Mayor Emanuel has made a number of announcements and advancements on issues of environmental focus, including building protected bike lanes; doubling the number of City-owned LEED buildings; proposing a congestion fee which will generate funds to invest in public transportation; started the process of having recycling throughout the city and reduced energy use through efficiency measures.
Mayor Emanuel is committed to creating a comprehensive, top-level approach to inject sustainability and environmental consciousness throughout city government, creating a centralized sustainability function to ensure that these issues are incorporated into every decision. As of January 1, the Department of Environment will no longer exist as a standalone unit. The integrated model that replaces it will be critical to elevate sustainability so that it is a part of every policy decision and capital investment. Starting in 2012, each department and sister agency will be engaged in creating a more sustainable Chicago.
Broader environmental functions currently in the Department of Environment will be relocated in multiple departments to more closely coordinate with and strengthen the ongoing work of the City. Programs such as the Chicago Conservation Corps, Greencorps Chicago, and the Chicago Center for Green Technology will still exist but will find new homes at other City departments and sister agencies. As final details emerge on where you can access your favorite environmental programs, we will make those details available.
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is a five-year initiative to unlock the economic growth and job-creation potential of 10,000 small businesses across the United States through greater access to business education, financial capital, and business support services. The program is based on the broadly held view of leading experts that this combination of education, access to capital and support services best addresses the barriers to growth for small businesses.
The education component of the national 10,000 Small Businesses initiative in the Chicago metropolitan area is delivered through a partnership with City Colleges of Chicago. There will also be a separate capital access component that will initially be managed and distributed by a regional or national Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) loan fund. Both City Colleges of Chicago and the lending partner will provide business support services such as technical assistance.
Acceptance into the 10,000 Small Businesses program at City Colleges of Chicago does not constitute acceptance to the capital access component of the Greater Chicago area program or through the broader 10,000 Small Businesses initiative. The City Colleges of Chicago program will, however, help participants to prepare their businesses to apply for capital.
Any establishment where the primary or exclusive purpose of the business is leasing or renting its commercial kitchen space to individuals, or business entities, for the purpose of:
Food Preparation
Temporary extra production capacity
Menu planning
Training
Taste testing
Product development
Food packaging and storage
Any other food related purpose
This license applies when a shared kitchen operation is NOT the primary activity of the business.
Any licensed retail or wholesale food establishment, that leases, rents or otherwise makes their commercial kitchen space available for utilization by individuals or business entities for the same purposes listed above.
To qualify, this activity must be secondary or incidental to the establishment’s primary business activity of a licensed retail or wholesale food establishment.
For example: A restaurant, or wholesale food establishment, that leases its kitchen out to an individual who is a licensed shared kitchen user.
A shared kitchen user is any person who utilizes, leases or rents kitchen space at any licensed shared kitchen.
There are two types of Shared Kitchen Users:
Long Term - 2 years license term
Short Term - 90 consecutive calendar days license term
Permitted business activities include:
Food Preparation
Temporary extra production capacity
Menu Planning
Training
Taste Testing
Product Development
Food Packaging
Food Storage
Any other food related purpose
Sale of Food
Shared Kitchen
$660.00 per shared kitchen.
Expires two years from the date of issuance.
Shared Kitchen – Supplemental
$330.00 per supplemental shared kitchen, which is in addition to the applicable retail or wholesale food establishment license.
Expires on the same date of the aforementioned applicable license.
Shared Kitchen User – Long-Term
$330.00 per long-term user.
Expires two years from the date of issuance.
Shared Kitchen User – Short-Term
$75.00 per short-term user.
Expires 90 consecutive calendar days from the date of issuance.
Shared Kitchen Operator
Business entity registration documents.
A valid City of Chicago Food Sanitation Manager Certificate.
A signed "Statement of Intent," or lease, from the owner or operator of the applicable shared kitchen.
Lease or proof of ownership of the business location property.
Business location floor plan; a site plan may also be requested for Zoning Classification Review.
Any City debt must be resolved prior to the issuance, or renewal, of any business license.
Shared Kitchen User
Individuals must provide a valid government-issued photo ID, and their Social Security Number.
A valid City of Chicago Food Sanitation Manager Certificate.
State of Illinois File Number; IRS Employer Identification Number; IDOR Account ID Number.
The menu must contain: the individual, or business name, as it will appear on the Photo ID badge; the residential address of the applicant as it appears on their valid government issued photo ID; All food items (currently and in the future).
Any City debt must be resolved prior to the issuance, or renewal, of any business license.
The new site - www.idea.illinois.gov - offers job tools and information for residents, resources to help businesses and more in a one-stop-shop.
]]>"As the Lincoln Park community approaches a transition phase that will last well over the next four years, an open dialogue with our elected officials will be paramount to the success of new development and existing businesses," said Kim Schilf, LPCC president and CEO. "We are committed to serving the needs of our members and working together with Alderman Smith – as well as Alderman Scott Waguespack in the 32nd Ward – as our neighborhood, and City, continue to recover from economic downturn."
More than 25 businesspeople from all corners of the 43rd Ward were present at the breakfast. Representatives from the retail, hospitality, finance, insurance, legal, cultural, theater, education and manufacturing industries were present to discuss issues ranging from retail strength and future development to parking and neighborhood safety.
With Children's Memorial Hospital and Finkl Steel leaving the Lincoln Park neighborhood in the coming year, as well as new leadership in City Hall, Lincoln Park and Chicago stand at a transition period. Meanwhile, retail and hospitality businesses look to lure customers through their doors during a continued economic recovery.
Open dialogue with local elected officials, as well as strong business advocacy will remain a focus of the LPCC.
A special thank you is in order to Aquitaine, a French restaurant located at 2221 N. Lincoln, who served as host for the event.
"Thank you again for your time and an important discussion, because despite being from different industries, Schilf continued. "We all share a common goal – the success of Lincoln Park."
]]>Crain’s Chicago Business
April 14, 2011
By Judith Nemes
Local green business leaders are seeing red over a new green business certification ordinance passed Wednesday by the Chicago City Council.
The ordinance will create a green business program run by the city’s Department of the Environment that’s intended to certify Chicago-area companies that meet environmental standards and sustainability criteria. Businesses that pass muster will get to place a Chicago Green Business Logo sticker on the front of their establishment.
Even though representatives of local green-oriented business groups participated in a task force that helped craft the program, some were hoping for a tougher version than the one that passed the City Council in Wednesday’s session.
“I was disappointed to see the green business certification ordinance pass,” says Peter Nicholson, director at the Foresight Sustainable Business Alliance, a membership organization that represents Chicago-area green-oriented businesses. He worries the ordinance “potentially opens the door for citywide greenwashing, however unintentional, by allowing a business to become ‘certified’ based on criteria that may or may not be relevant to their core product or service.”
Mr. Nicholson is concerned that companies barely engaged in green practices will seek certification from the city and potentially be elevated to the same status as a business working hard to adopt eco-friendly standards throughout all segments of its operations. He was among the three dozen members of the task force that met a handful of times last year.
Suzanne Keers, executive director and co-founder of Local First Chicago, a non-profit that supports locally owned independent businesses, says the ordinance is flawed because it doesn’t place any value on the companies’ overall environmental or social impact in their community.
“A business owner could encourage employees to ride their bike to work, but they might also be creating a product full of pollutants that’s harming our community and could still be a certified green business under this ordinance,” she says.
To qualify for a Chicago Green Business designation, the program stipulates businesses must adopt a handful of practices in several categories and take a pledge promising to adhere to the ones they say they’ve implemented. For example, businesses must show they’re reducing harmful carbon dioxide emissions by following four steps among a list of 14, including: encouraging workers to get to the office using bikes, trains or car pools; handing out bike maps and posting transit schedules, or allowing employees to telecommute.
In the energy conservation category, companies must show they’re being energy-efficient by incorporating a minimum of 12 steps among a roster of 34, including: monitoring and recording energy use; posting light switch reminders to alert workers to shut off lights; replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights, and planting native shrubs or trees near windows for shade. Some of the steps are more rigorous, such as converting water heaters to instantaneous on-demand systems or replacing inefficient or broken windows with double-pane, energy-efficient ones.
Alderman Margaret Laurino (39th), a co-sponsor of the ordinance, expects the criteria will be amended over time. “It’s only a first step and a voluntary program,” she says. “We fully expect municipal code to evolve as environmental technologies and business practices change with the times.”
Other co-sponsors of the ordinance are Alderman Virginia Rugai (19th) and Alderman Ed Burke (14th).
Another task force participant, Dan Rosenthal, chairman of the Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op and owner of the Sopraffina restaurant group, fears consumers will be misled by the program and may patronize businesses that aren’t as green as the logo on their door might claim. The co-op is a group purchasing organization for local eateries seeking sustainable products and guidelines.
“This program will do nothing more than confuse people who are really trying to use businesses that are sustainable,” says Mr. Rosenthal, who asserts the standards for acceptance are too weak. “Under this ordinance, all a business has to do is fill out a form, sign an affidavit, send in a hundred bucks to the city and poof! It's now a certified Chicago Green Business. This is the very definition of greenwashing because there’s no third-party audit.”
With no funding mechanism to pay for an auditing process, critics worry there won’t be any oversight and there will be no way to know whether businesses certified under the program are maintaining the standards they’ve pledged to keep and improve.
The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op, which has its own Guaranteed Green certification program for food establishments around town, requires restaurants that are applying to have their sustainability claims validated by either the Green Restaurant Assn. or Green Seal, a third-party green certification group.
While Mr. Nicholson and others oppose the plan that just passed, he is hopeful that future modifications will give the program more teeth.
“We look forward to working with members of the incoming City Council to build upon this first step,” he says.
The program goes into effect in January.
]]>CHICAGO (March 30, 2011) – The Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce (LPCC) today announced their 2011 Legislative Agenda, a signpost document that directs the business organization’s advocacy efforts for the coming year. The 2011 Legislative Agenda focuses on four key areas – Transportation, Zoning and Development, Tax Climate and Business Climate – that affect local businesses, how business is conducted, the regulatory and financial burden of the area and how customers frequent local shops, service providers, entertainment outlets, cultural institutions and restaurants.
The LPCC is committed to assisting local businesses form powerful and meaningful connections to help their business grow. In many cases, these connections include elected creating policy affecting the industry or neighborhood the business calls home. The LPCC has working relationships with dozens of policy makers and decision leaders in Lincoln Park and beyond to assist members with their advocacy and community relations needs.
The LPCC’s Legislative priorities in 2011 include:
In the coming year, the LPCC will use media statements, chamber communication tools, social media, City Hall testimony, community meetings and interaction with elected officials to share the pro-business message. In many cases the LPCC will also work directly with other chambers of commerce and community groups to form strong partnerships on innovative policies and/or coalition building.
Specifically, after working with retiring Alderman Vi Daley (43rd), Alderman Tom Tunney (44th) and Alderman Scott Waguespack (32nd) to develop a Parking Task Force in 2010, the LPCC looks forward to re-igniting this group to determine a solution that assists businesses and appeases the concerns of local restaurants. A busy election season has since stalled this Task Force.
“The City of Chicago and State of Illinois are both facing new political landscapes in 2011,” said Kim Schilf, LPCC President and CEO. “While new faces fill the seats at City Hall and the State Capitol, it is vital to the success of businesses that there is support for their needs with our policymakers.
“The Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce works with our members and elected officials to provide the facts about key issues affecting the business community in working toward a compromise,” Schilf said. “While difficult decisions will continue to have to be made in Lincoln Park, Chicago and Illinois, we ask that responsible solutions are provided to limit the regulatory and financial burden on our local businesses.”
In 2010, the LPCC’s Government Affairs Committee worked both proactively and reactively on behalf of local businesses. In April, the LPCC was vocal against the so-called “Massage Parlor” ordinance that would limit where these establishments could open. Throughout the year, the LPCC shared a strong position in favor of the Mobile Food Trucks ordinance as well as redevelopment of Lincoln Park Hospital. Through letters to local Alderman, press statements and testimony at the Chicago Planning Commission and Zoning Committee, the LPCC worked to bring new customers to local businesses through the Webster Square development.
The LPCC’s 2011 Legislative Agenda was drafted based on research, input from local businesses, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce’s legislative work and recommendations from the LPCC’s Government Affairs Committee. The Legislative Agenda was approved by the LPCC Board of Directors on March 24, 2011.
About the LPCC
The LPCC is a nonprofit organization of approximately 550 local businesses, institutions and professionals united to help businesses in Lincoln Park succeed and grow. The LPCC believes that business prosperity contributes to the vitality of the Lincoln Park community. For information about upcoming events, advertising opportunities or membership, call the LPCC office at (773) 880-5200 or visit them online at www.lincolnparkchamber.com.
# # #
January 27, 2011
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
DePaul University Student Center
The LPCC's State of the Ward Luncheon and Annual Meeting featured the election of the new Board of Directors, a recap of accomplishments from 2010, a farewell to Alderman Vi Daley, news from Alderman Scott Waguespack, nearly 100 business owners and a recognition of the outgoing Board.
With much change ahead in Chicago, both legislatively and in the community, it is important for businesses to have this unique access to their elected officials. An economic change is ahead, the aldermen agreed, but we're not there yet.
32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack has often been a vocal dissenting vote on key ordinances, or as was the case in 2010, the 2011 City of Chicago Operating budget. Waguespack shared his dedication to holding the City Council and Mayor fiscally responsible for the viability of neighborhoods long-term and his concern over the lease of public assets. Alderman Waguespack also discussed the Food Truck Ordinance that he introduced to City Council and the various media stories pointing to a controversy surrounding the legalization of this style of cuisine.
For 43rd Ward Alderman Vi Daley, the message – and experience – carried a different tone. After more than a decade as Alderman in Lincoln Park, Daley decided to retire from the political realm in Fall 2010. A point of great debate in the neighborhood for over a year, Alderman Daley discussed the future of the site that once housed Lincoln Park Hospital, and her tireless efforts to negotiate a compromise between neighbors and the developer.
The event was hosted and sponsored by DePaul University
