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Dear neighbors,
Thank you to the hundreds of 1st Ward residents who responded to our survey on the potential expansion of sidewalk delivery robots in the 1st Ward. Whether your concerns related to safety, accessibility, other matters, the overall opinion was unequivocal: 83.7% of 1st Ward respondents strongly disagreed with having sidewalk robot deliveries expand further in the ward. While I will not be asking Coco to pull back from their limited pilot area east of Wood Street, neither company will be expanding further into the ward. This doesn't ignore the impact of deliveries on congestion in the city of Chicago, but I believe we need to find other micro-mobility delivery solutions that don't create an additional litany of issues.
Speaking of accessibility, after two years we were able to come to an agreement with the mayor's office and various departments on a revised version of the resident based reporting ordinance. The ordinance, which passed the Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety yesterday and will hopefully pass the full City Council next week, would begin be designating a task force of parking enforcement aides specifically for parking violations in crosswalks, bike lanes, and bus lanes. On a parallel path, the departments of Finance and Information and Technology will build out a dispatch system that will allow these 311 complaints to be routed in real time to parking enforcement aides in the vicinity. For the first time and by the end of this year, Chicago could finally have an effective citywide tool for keeping our pedestrian, cycling, and public transit infrastructure from being abused. I'm very hopeful to secure passage of this ordinance next week.
This isn't the only legislative item I have in committees this week. Tomorrow, the Finance Committee will vote on the final ordinances needed for the Congress Theater to move forward. On Friday, the Committee on Contracting Compliance and Equity will vote on an ordinance creating transparency around MBE, WBE, and Chicago resident hiring commitments made by planned developments approved by the city. With only two of seventy planned developments meeting the equity goals they committed to since 2017, clearly more accountability is needed.
Have a great week,Â
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