Afternoon Edition: New police union contract approved at tense City Council meeting
Mayor Brandon Johnson (far right) leads Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting, where members voted on two key police matters.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
“So much for the détente between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the police union that has bolstered morale among rank-and-file Chicago Police Department officers,” my colleague Fran Spielman writes in her latest City Hall report.
It could be back to the constant bickering and legal wrangling between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police that dominated Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s tenure.
A stormy City Council meeting today — during which alderpersons sparred and members of the public protested — points to as much.
Below, we break down the Council’s rulings on two big police matters today. ????
Plus we’ve got the community news you need to know this afternoon.
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)
TODAY’S TOP STORY
Police contract approved, arbitrator’s disciplinary ruling rejected at another stormy City Council meeting
Reporting by Fran Spielman
Ruling on cop discipline: A deeply divided City Council today rejected an arbitrator’s ruling that would have allowed officers recommended for firings or suspensions over one year to bypass the Police Board in favor of an arbitrator who might be more sympathetic and would hold proceedings behind closed doors. If arbitrator Edwin Benn reaffirms his ruling and the City Council rejects it a second time, “it’s absolutely labor war at that point,” police union leader John Catanzara said.
Contract OK’d: During the same meeting, the City Council also approved a two-year Chicago Police Department contract extension. The contract calls for doubling the annual raise rank-and-file police officers were scheduled to receive in 2024 and 2025 from 2.5% to 5%. During the two-year extension ending on June 30, 2027, police officers will receive annual raises in the 3% to 5% range, depending on the cost of living.
Having it both ways: The split decision allowed Mayor Brandon Johnson and his progressive allies to have it both ways. They delivered a symbolic message underscoring their commitment to police reform and accountability while also throwing a bone to rank-and-file officers.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
The Thompson Center would feature a new transparent, energy-efficient glass facade as part of Google’s $280 million renovation of the building.
- New look at Thompson Center plans: The Thompson Center would get a new, virtually see-through glass facade while retaining its signature 17-story atrium under Google’s latest renovation plans.
- Chicago’s top Google searches of 2023: From air quality to Taylor Swift to baseball, Chicagoans had a few common things on their minds this year, according to the tech giant.
- Former CPS teacher accused of sex abuse: A lawsuit alleges CPS teacher Andrew Castro continued to sexually abuse children for months after he was removed from a Northwest Side elementary school during an investigation.
- Robert Crimo Jr. released from jail: The father of the Highland Park parade shooting suspect was released from custody this morning for good behavior, authorities said. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail last month.
- Activists call for CHA overhaul: Activists and Chicago Housing Authority residents gathered at the agency’s headquarters Tuesday to call for the replacement of leadership, saying more than 200,000 people sit on the waiting list for public housing.
- Columbia College strike update: Now in its seventh week, the adjunct faculty strike at Columbia College Chicago is leaving students in limbo. To keep classes going, the college has replaced many of the teachers who walked off the job.
- 2.5 stars for ‘Wonka’: Timothée Chalamet underwhelms in a scattershot origin story that mixes too many ingredients into its chocolate-covered plot, writes Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper.
CHICAGO HISTORY ⌛
A person crosses the street near the Chinatown Gate ahead of the Lunar New Year celebration in Chinatown beginning in January.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file
How the Chinatown Gate became a Chicago icon
Reporting by Dennis Rodkin | WBEZ
The Chinatown Gate on Wentworth Avenue immediately south of Cermak Road is less of a gateway and more like a center point — with shops, restaurants and other sites radiating out from the intersection. Ping Tom Memorial Park, with a riverside pagoda and other nods to Chinese culture, is also nearby.
All that growth from where this gate was first constructed in 1975 — when it did mark an entrance — is a testament to the staying power of Chicago’s Chinatown. In an era when many other cities’ Chinatowns are shrinking, either from gentrification or from disuse, Chicago’s keeps growing.
At the approximate center of it all is this gate, with a traditional pagoda-style roof on steel legs. When it was dedicated in November 1975, George Cheung, the Chinatown community leader who had led the project, bragged to the Tribune that the gate was “larger than the one in San Francisco,” which is surely an iconic image for Chicago: We always want to build bigger than anywhere else.
The gate was designed by Peter Fung, a Chinese American structural engineer and architect, who told the Tribune in 1975 that he originally wanted to design something contemporary, “but I was talked out of that.” He researched historical gates in China and came up with something he told Tribune architecture writer Paul Gapp was “an authentic derivative of old Chinese structures, but original.”
While the gate is less than 50 years old, it’s a marker of a Chinese presence in Chicago that dates back to at least 1860.
BRIGHT ONE ✨
New citizens of the United States participate in a naturalization ceremony last Friday at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
New U.S. citizens take oath at Museum of Science and Industry
Reporting by Violet Miller
Milena Pagano said she gained a second birthday last Friday morning. The former Italian citizen held back tears as she and 149 others became naturalized U.S. citizens at the Museum of Science and Industry.
“It was so special. I understood that I wasn’t alone. I checked behind me and saw a lot of people and said, ‘Oh, my gosh, everyone is like me today,’” said Pagano, 45.
The special court session was the first held at the museum, packing the lower level of the auditorium with new citizens and their loved ones. In addition to citizenship papers and voter registration, those participating in the ceremony were given an annual membership to the museum.
Officials at the museum had wanted to host a naturalization ceremony in December for a while because it would mesh well with “Christmas Around the World,” an annual museum display featuring more than 60 trees decorated for different countries. On Friday, 19 of those trees represented the countries some of the new citizens had left to come to the United States.
Also becoming a citizen Friday was Amrinder Dhindsa. He came to the United States in 2015 and met his wife here.
“After my wedding, this has to be the next best day of my life,” Dhindsa said.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Name someone who deserves to be an honorary Chicagoan. Tell us why.
Email us (please include your first and last name and where you live). To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Afternoon Edition.
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Editor: Satchel Price
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Chris Woldt