Alderman Reilly Calls for Transparency

in the Mayor's Budget Process

A recent Chicago Tribune editorial highlighted Alderman Reilly’s consistent warning about the City’s fiscal direction and ongoing push for transparency and accountability in light of the recent credit downgrade.

Those concerns were reiterated during the June 3 Finance Committee hearing, where Alderman Reilly emphasized that he and several colleagues who voted against the 2025 Budget predicted the decline to our credit rating as a result of irresponsible spending, overly optimistic revenue projections, and the imbalance of the Mayor’s 2025 Budget. To watch his remarks at the Committee meeting, click here. The Daily Line provided additional coverage of the Finance Committee discussion and the budget’s structural deficiencies. Please click here for an excerpt of the Daily Line article.

These concerns have taken on new urgency following news that Mayor Johnson has hired private consulting company Ernst & Young to identify inefficiencies in Chicago’s budget, As reported in Crain’s Chicago Business. Alderman Reilly supports the efforts to cut wasteful spending over raising taxes, but questions the necessity and cost of this contract (at $3.2M), especially given the existence of a budget working group composed of business leaders and civil servants, tasked with similar responsibilities.

To ensure transparency and proper Council oversight, Alderman Reilly joined 26 of his colleagues in signing a letter requesting that all documents shared with Ernst & Young also be made available to members of the City Council. The letter specifically requests any financial data, reports, analyses, and departmental reviews provided to the consultants. 

Please see below for a copy of the letter Alderman Reilly and his colleagues sent to the Mayor.

Alderman Reilly's Ordinance Authorizes

Enforcement of Unlicensed Vendors

On May 21, 2025, the City Council passed Alderman Reilly’s ordinance (SO2024-0008400), which authorizes the Department of Business Affairs (BACP) to enforce business licensing requirements on Park District property.

Although Michigan Avenue is a designated No Peddling Zone, enforcement has been challenging near Millennium Park due to jurisdictional limitations between the BACP and the Park District. As a result, large numbers of unlicensed vendors have continued to operate in and around the park, creating public health and safety concerns. This ordinance addresses that gap by empowering BACP investigators, through an intergovernmental agreement with the Park District, to enforce Park District vendor regulations. This will ensure vendors on Park District property comply with the Park District’s Concession Program requirements. The expanded enforcement authority is expected to go into effect in late June.

We are hopeful this new tool will help BACP curb the proliferation of unlicensed vendors in and around the park to better protect public safety, sanitation, and nearby legitimate businesses. 

To learn about the Park District Concessions Program, click here.

Chicago Blues Festival This Weekend

This weekend, the Chicago Blues Festival will take place in Millennium Park from Thursday, June 5 through Sunday, June 8. The Chicago Blues Festival is the world’s largest blues festival, and admission is free for attendees. There will be several stages set up in Millennium Park, including at Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the North and South Promenade. For more information, please click here.

After 6pm Thursday-Sunday, all guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by somebody 21 years or older. All entrances will be handicap accessible. Please see the event entrance map below.

Planned Development Amendment:

150 West Hubbard Street

In 2016, the City Council approved a Planned Development (PD) for a 19-story (235’ tall) Hyatt Andaz Hotel at 150 West Hubbard Street / 430 North LaSalle Street. The approved project included 196 hotel rooms and nearly 19,000 square feet of public food, beverage, and event space, including a rooftop bar. The development was intended for luxury travelers and long-stay guests, with no on-site parking due to the site’s proximity to public transit. Andaz locations are known for being a destination for weddings and corporate gatherings. 

Based upon changed market conditions, the property owner is now seeking to amend the PD to revise the program for a new hotel concept. The proposed new hotel is designed for The Cloud One Hotel, a popular “affordable luxury” company, which operates nearly 100 locations in Europe.

The revised building was previously proposed as shorter (16 stories and 193 feet tall) with more and smaller rooms (341 keys), and eliminating all of the public event space, including the rooftop bar. After thorough review, Alderman Reilly directed the property owner to scale back the project. The project is now proposed with 297 rooms, and a further reduced height to 15 stories and 186 feet in height. Approximately 3,800 square feet of ground-floor restaurant space is proposed as the only commercial space in the building, and all outdoor spaces would be limited to hotel guests. No on-site parking is included in the amended plan. The revised plans, comparison images and traffic study can all be found here.

This project will be reviewed at an upcoming Chicago Plan Commission meeting, with subsequent approval required by City Council.  As part of Alderman Reilly’s transparent community process for new developments, your comments and observations are welcome. Please click here to provide your feedback.

Community-Focused Policing Initiative Feedback

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is currently gathering community input as a part of their Advancing Community-Focused Policing initiative. This is to implement community policing at all levels of the department with the goal of assisting the department in the following areas:

• Implementing the Consent decree
• Meeting Community Commission for Public Safety & Accountability (CCPSA) goals
• Forming the new CPD strategic plan

An online survey is available for residents to submit feedback to CPD. Those interested in participating may complete the survey here. The online survey will be open through June 27, 2025.

Feedback from this Community-Focused Policing Initiative will be incorporated into a “synthesized feedback report” to help CPD shape officer deployment patterns, the way officers engage with the community, and the overall goals of CPD’s new strategic plan. Additional information on this program is on the CPD website here. Additional questions regarding this initiative may be submitted to the CPD Office of Community Policing at community@chicagopolice.org.

CAPS Meetings

18th District: (312-742-5778 / CAPS.018District@chicagopolice.org)

• There are no scheduled beat meetings for this district for the remainder of the month.



1st District: (312-745-4381 / CAPS.001District@chicagopolice.org)

• Beat 122 meeting will be held on June 11th at 3pm via Zoom.

For Zoom links and other updates, please email CAPS.001District@chicagopolice.org.