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Year’s End Reflections: The Budget and What We Accomplished

Daniel La Spata Ward 1 📞 872-206-2685 ✉️ [email protected]
Relevance: 6/10

Summary

Alderman La Spata of the 1st Ward reports that the City Council passed the 2026 budget, preserving funding for gender‑based‑violence services, community safety, and the Chicago Public Library while the alderman opposed several budget ordinances. Groundbreaking this year on five park and open‑space projects and the start of two affordable‑housing developments are complemented by citywide reforms to transit‑oriented development and disabled‑permit parking policies. The office will be closed Dec 24–Jan 5; residents are invited to recycle holiday lights, attend a rapid‑response training, and take advantage of the holiday‑tree recycling program, while being cautioned about New Year’s Eve donation scams.

Year’s End Reflections: The Budget and What We Accomplished

1st Ward Newsletter | December 23, 2025

Dear neighbors,

This past Saturday a budget was finally passed by City Council for 2026. There are some genuine wins within the budget, including maintaining funding for gender-based violence services and community safety investments, as well as restoring the cuts to the Chicago Public Library system initially proposed by the mayor; I believe it's easily worth $11 to keep the Library fully staffed and safe with great new books next year. With few exceptions though, I did vote against the ordinances that make up the budget. 

Regardless of authorship, council’s or the mayor’s, it’s my job to look at the substance of those ordinances. The budget ordinances that passed removed oversight for police overtime and stripped out transparency over speed camera revenue. They are balanced on numbers and revenue sources that are novel and specious at best. In particular, after spending the last three years digging into the realities of water and traffic enforcement debt, I am deeply concerned by efforts to balance the budget on debt collection. Nevertheless, this is now the budget of the City of Chicago and we will now govern according to its restrains and repercussions.

This is our last newsletter of the year, with the ward office closed from December 24th through January 5th. Together we found new ways to experience Wicker Park with Meet Me on Milwaukee; broke ground on no less than five park and open space projects; began construction on two separate affordable housing projects; and reformed transit-oriented development and disabled permit parking policies citywide! None of this would have happened without my incredible ward office staff (Nick Zettel, Leah Kennedy, Victoria Cortez, Maria Muñoz) and the staff of the Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety (Iris Postma, Morgan Madderom, Niki Heer, Sophia Mayen). I am also blessed by the creativity, generosity, and accountability of all our 1st Ward residents. Thank you for the gift it is to serve and represent you as alderperson.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Alderman La Spata

P.S. Click here to open this newsletter in another tab!
Garbage and Recycling Collection
As we approach the holidays, please note that there will be adjustments to trash and recycling collection schedules. You can view your personalized collection schedule by visiting the trash and recycling service schedule here. 

In this week's newsletter, you'll find:

1st Ward Office
Don’t let broken holiday string lights tangle up your holidays, recycle them with us! Drop off your nonworking holiday string lights between now and January 31 and Reduce Waste Chicago will ensure they are properly recycled.

Be sure your lights are separated from other decor and are free from other packaging (no plastic bags, please). Drop off your lights at the 1st Ward Office Mondays through Fridays between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.!
Save the date for our next Rapid Response Training with Pilsen Unidos Por Nuestro Orgullo (PUńO) on the evening of Tuesday, January 27. While we're not currently seeing the same intensity of ICE presence in our neighborhoods as earlier this year, ICE activity is still ongoing in Chicago. 
Register

Community News and Events
The Department of Streets and Sanitation's annual Holiday Tree Recycling program will run from January 3-17 at 27 locations citywide. Trees will be chipped to create mulch, which will be available to residents for FREE at six of the locations starting Monday, January 5. For more information, please click here.
New Year's Eve Safety
As we approach New Year's festivities, please be aware of a common scam technique that is targeting late night crowds as they exit bars and restaurants. Scammers tend to be wearing bright vests, carry a State of Illinois seal, and wear CPD or CPS badges while they solicit donations for funerals, crime victims, etc. These scams are fake and their badges/IDs are fraudulent. Once someone agrees to donate, they will steal up to $10,000 via credit card payment. Please do not donate to any of these solicitors! Call 911 if you see them attempting this scam so police can investigate. 

1ST WARD ALDERMANIC OFFICE

LOCATION: 1958 N Milwaukee Avenue

HOURS: 10 AM - 6 PM, Monday - Friday

PHONE: 872-206-2685

REQUESTS: [email protected]

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